Call Center Management Featured Article
When Angry Callers Become Abusive
While most call centers like to think they have the resources in place to help angry customers and defuse the problematic situations that might crop up, most call center agents will eventually find themselves with a customer on the other end of the line who is so unreasonable that he or she will subject the agent to verbal abuse.
In a recent blog post, the CEO of workforce optimization company Monet Software, Chuck Ciarlo, wonders: is it ever OK for an agent to hang up on an angry customer? The answer, says Ciarlo, is “yes.” The trick, however, is determining when this moment has arrived.
“The challenge is separating angry calls, which may be turned around by a sympathetic agent, from abusive calls, in which an agent may have no choice but to terminate the conversation,” writes Ciarlo.
Most angry calls don’t simply come out of the blue. They are generally in response to a product or service that has been poorly delivered, or a previous customer service contact that was not handled well, leaving the customer with unresolved issues. While it’s understandable that customers might become angry, it’s never acceptable for a customer to personally berate an agent, use foul or abusive language, or yell and scream. This is where it becomes easy to separate a simply angry customer from an abusive customer.
Ciarlo notes that reminding abusive customers that their calls are being recorded may help them calm down, but in other cases the agent may simply need to hang up and report the incident to a supervisor.
While a contact center may never be able to prevent all abusive calls – some people simply like to make themselves unpleasant – there are steps it can take to reduce the incidences.
For starters, it’s important that call centers don’t create the kind of scenarios that make customers angry: excessive call transfers, excessive hold times, repeated requests for account numbers or providing incorrect information, for starters. Customers intensely dislike having to explain their problems over and over again to different individuals. This is where the all-important 360-degree view of the customer comes in handy: it ensures that agents are knowledgeable about a customer’s previous experiences or transactions, and that the call is handled by the right person to solve the problem.
Next, it’s important to take a proactive approach to solving customer’s problems. This might involve initiating call-backs with new information or simply to update the customer on progress, identifying mistakes and correcting them before the customer is even aware of them, and finally, taking a gentle, understanding approach to customers’ frustration rather than dismissing or belittling it. It’s easy to forget, day after day, that customers aren’t a homogenous single entity, but individuals with unique issues who don’t like having their time wasted.
Finally, Ciarlo recommends using recordings of calls that became heated or abusive as learning tools: understanding where the agent lost control of the conversation so agents can become better mediators with agitated customers. Monet’s VoIP call recording solution allow contact centers to gain insight into customer interactions by monitoring live calls –which may help identify problematic interactions faster -- and by quickly navigating among recordings to locate the most acrimonious calls.
As always in the call center, every failure is an opportunity to learn and improve.
Edited by Stefania Viscusi